Innovative postharvest strategies for maintaining the quality of kiwifruit during storage: An updated review

Abstract

Being a respiratory climacteric fruit, kiwifruit is susceptible to age and decay rapidly in the postharvest stage. Therefore, the development of efficient postharvest methods to maintain the kiwifruit quality has been a long-standing goal. This review summarizes the preservation and disease control methods of kiwifruit conducted over the past 5 years, and the characteristics, advantages, and action mechanisms of various methods are thoroughly discussed. Physical, chemical, and biotechnological methods, such as low-temperature, essential oil, and endophytic yeast treatment, can enhance postharvest kiwifruit quality to a certain extent by controlling disease, delaying chilling injury, alleviating oxidative damage, inhibiting oversoftening and off-flavor development. However, all these techniques have limitations per se, such as the inability to prevent secondary infections and potential side effects on human health. Novel approaches such as pulsed light and cold plasma or a synergistic application of several techniques may be the future direction for kiwifruit postharvest preservation.